While I had never visited Maine in October, the beach was littered with orange leaves washed in from the tides. It nearly camouflaged this beauty.
They say a picture is worth one thousand words, this is my "one-thousand-word picture." It represents the journey of my heart, the trajectory of my life and is now tattooed on my arm today.
On a whirlwind trip I took our daughter out of school and we road tripped it to Maine to visit and say good-bye to my Grumps (grandfather).
We had a good visit considering the circumstances. After a few days it was time to head home. Up until this visit my family had an unspoken rule to only say "see you later," or "until next time." This time we shared our love for each other and said our final Good-byes.
Words diminish the enormity of backing out of their driveway. It was dusk, the warm lights from inside their living room added a glow, and you could still faintly make out the beautiful colors of the leaves that framed the image of the two of them inside their home.
It's a memory to treasure!
I drove with Macey to a nearby gas station and pulled over to cry and reset. But how do you reset? The earth was still spinning, tomorrow was going to show up again the next day, life would carry on even with my heels dragging.
We went inside, I bought wine for the evening and lots of whoopie pies to take back home the next day.
When I see this image of my starfish today, I am reminded that I am living many answered prayers from this season in my life. And that our Nana and Grumps, or Barbara and Russ are just as alive as they always were, because we love them more and more every day!
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